Can Hasan Piker Steal a Car?

In a controversial interview conducted by the New York Times and recently discussed in the Atlantic, broadcaster Hasan Piker revealed that he may steal a car if there are no consequences. In the interview, author Jia Tolentino also openly admits to shoplifting lemons from Whole Foods. Although petty theft is common, the clip of the interview went viral because the reason for the robbery felt so compelling.

Piker refers to the iconic anti-piracy campaign that seeks to use moral vibes (rather than logical arguments) against confiscation of physical property to convince people to keep their desires in check and not copy music without payment. The anti-crime clip “Thou Shalt Not Steal a Car” shows a clear view from 2004 that the American public has widely agreed on the stability of material possessions. In other words, most Americans do not think that “property is theft.”

In Types of BuildingsProfessor Bart Wilson argues that place is not just a legal entity but an ingrained social practice. People develop a shared understanding of “mine” and “yours,” and these practices allow cooperation to extend beyond small groups. Property is not just ownership. It’s about connecting.

From that perspective, the common dismissal of theft as “no big deal” is neither morally nor economically neutral. It removes those shared expectations that make exchange possible.

Markets rely on more than prices; they rely on trust that boundaries will be respected. This understanding proves a long tradition. Adam Smith, who is often invoked for his theory of the invisible hand of markets, also emphasized the importance of justice. Before markets can allocate resources efficiently, people must avoid taking what is not theirs.

In my recent paper with Bart Wilson, “You Can’t Steal a Car: Moral Intuition for Intellectual Property,” we explore how people think about taking different kinds of goods. As I discussed in “Everybody Take Copies,” the human subjects in the lab were quick to call taking physical property “stealing.” The players all considered it unacceptable in their small group. No one wants their things taken away, and everyone has a sense of “mine.”

Following many rules is done out of a sense of responsibility, which can be difficult to find if lost. Russ Roberts made a similar point years ago in his EconLog column on Napster-assisted downloading as theft. He wrote:

Much of what is followed is voluntary. It is supported by internal norms, not external compulsions. This is why the general erosion of those practices should worry us.

What would Piker think of a world where the “microlooting” he claims allows to happen at a high level? Ambiguity about land rights has real implications, such as stores raising prices to compensate for shrinking or closing in high-crime areas. These costs are often borne equally by disadvantaged people.

Once norms break down, rebuilding is difficult, both at the neighborhood scale and at the national level. This is easily seen in countries that do not have strong infrastructure systems. Countries with weak rights struggle to attract investment and sustain economic growth. The difficulty of reversing that decline is not just an idea. It can be seen over the decades the work of nations actively trying to fix their institutions. Colombia provides one such example. As Omar Hernandez notes in his discussion of national reforms, building reliable infrastructure is a long and difficult process.

Hernandez wrote, “Although Colombia has made changes to improve the investment environment and strengthen respect for property, the road to strong and reliable security remains long.”

Hernandez, along with many development economists, expressed the desire to move the entire group of people to the equality of strong local rights and less tolerance for theft.